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A review by cynthiasreadinglist
Girls Save the World in This One by Ash Parsons
4.0
LOVED this book!
This started off slowly with what felt like an info dump regarding setting and character backgrounds. I prefer when action-packed stories move with a quicker plot and establish character development through dialogue and as the action builds. But it's so worth getting past those beginning chapters because this book delivered tension, zombie goodness, and that dynamic ragtag team of survivors the genre is known for.
June, Imani, and Siggy are three best friends enjoying their senior year of high school by attending ZombieCon where they have photo-ops and a detailed itinerary to meet the actors from their fave show: Human Wasteland (a Walking Dead type zombie apocolypse show). A zombie outbreak occurs even though folks don't believe it immediately-- I mean HELLO! How do you tell if it's a cosplayer taking their costume a little too seriously?? I adored this mystery aspect and little easter eggs here and there experienced by the MC, June, keep the reader enthrallled and in the know.
The three girls link up with some of the stars from Human Wasteland, a horror movie icon, and their fourth best friend who they'd been icing out because of a crappy thing she did. So at the root of this story is friendship, deciding the type of person you want to be when sh*t hits the fan, and GIRL POWER.
Seriously, the girls in this kick ass! The title alone should sell it for you. I am a serious sucker for anything where girls are the heroes. One of my favorite sayings is "Girls will save the world." This is a story about taking down patriarchy in the form of men who don't take girls seriously, girls thinking they need to compete instead of support each other, girls being made to feel like there is only one type of intelligence. But June and especially bestie, Imani, disprove this.
I wish Imani was the MC because I desperaretly want girls of color as protagonists in horror and especially in zombie stories! I am a BIG The Walking Dead fan and the women in the show always do it for me, especially Michonne, with how powerful she is.
But one thing I appreciate about Ash Parsons is that she stuck to what she knew by writing a white MC and having her process what it's like for her mixed race, Black and Asian, best friend in a small, mostly white rural town. And Ash did something that is rare-- she named the race of every single character, even the white ones. How many books do you read where white is the default, and only characters of color are named? I really appreciate that and want it to become a standard, not just in books, but in reviews. I am pushing myself to insert this in an authentic way, especially after reading "The Default in Our Stars: A Guest Post by Linda Sue Park".
One last note I want to make as this is quickly turning into a "Cynthia screams about her love for the zombie genre and gets carried away," is how I enjoyed the Janet O'Shea character, but how I also felt there was missing nuance there regarding womanhood as experienced by white women. June is a huge fan of Janet O'Shea, who plays Vivian in the 1960s fictional film, "Fight the Dead." For folks that have seen the film, "Night of the Living Dead," it's pretty obvious Vivian is Barbara's character. Lmao, like her name even rhymes with the actress IRL who plays Barbara. And June makes a lot of commentary on why Vivian is so amazing, and why the movie was so poignant to be made in times of social upheavel where "the heroes are a timid white girl and a strong Black man...in trying to survive the night, they have to confront each other, confront prejudice, fight to even have a say about what they should do in a life-or-death circumstance." She and Janet say Vivian is just a girl doing her best. On the surface, I LOVE that! And I love how it's the framing for this story where a regular girl trusts herself and does what it takes to stay alive.
But that isn't what really happens in "Night of the Living Dead," and I think it erases the racial dynamics that although unintentional, ruled the film. While the story starts out with Barbara, this fragile white woman, as the protagonist, Ben's arrival and his incessant labor throughout, fighting the ghouls, the prideful white man wanting to be boss, and white women's complacency cements him as the leader and protagonist and that is incredible for not only horror, but a movie in that time period. And we cannot pretend that women of color get to be as gentle or "regular" in the way June, Vivian, Barbara are. Look at Michonne, or Rosita in TWD. So Idk, I have more thoughts, but this is getting long as hell! I recommend also reading The Lingering Horror of 'Night of the Living Dead', which recounts the history of zombies in Black culture, as "undead slaves with roots in Haitian folklore and necromancy." I did not know this and it's something I want to read more about!
Anyways, bottom line: read this book! I guarantee any zombie lover or anyone who has been to a fan con will adore it.
This started off slowly with what felt like an info dump regarding setting and character backgrounds. I prefer when action-packed stories move with a quicker plot and establish character development through dialogue and as the action builds. But it's so worth getting past those beginning chapters because this book delivered tension, zombie goodness, and that dynamic ragtag team of survivors the genre is known for.
June, Imani, and Siggy are three best friends enjoying their senior year of high school by attending ZombieCon where they have photo-ops and a detailed itinerary to meet the actors from their fave show: Human Wasteland (a Walking Dead type zombie apocolypse show). A zombie outbreak occurs even though folks don't believe it immediately-- I mean HELLO! How do you tell if it's a cosplayer taking their costume a little too seriously?? I adored this mystery aspect and little easter eggs here and there experienced by the MC, June, keep the reader enthrallled and in the know.
The three girls link up with some of the stars from Human Wasteland, a horror movie icon, and their fourth best friend who they'd been icing out because of a crappy thing she did. So at the root of this story is friendship, deciding the type of person you want to be when sh*t hits the fan, and GIRL POWER.
Seriously, the girls in this kick ass! The title alone should sell it for you. I am a serious sucker for anything where girls are the heroes. One of my favorite sayings is "Girls will save the world." This is a story about taking down patriarchy in the form of men who don't take girls seriously, girls thinking they need to compete instead of support each other, girls being made to feel like there is only one type of intelligence. But June and especially bestie, Imani, disprove this.
I wish Imani was the MC because I desperaretly want girls of color as protagonists in horror and especially in zombie stories! I am a BIG The Walking Dead fan and the women in the show always do it for me, especially Michonne, with how powerful she is.
But one thing I appreciate about Ash Parsons is that she stuck to what she knew by writing a white MC and having her process what it's like for her mixed race, Black and Asian, best friend in a small, mostly white rural town. And Ash did something that is rare-- she named the race of every single character, even the white ones. How many books do you read where white is the default, and only characters of color are named? I really appreciate that and want it to become a standard, not just in books, but in reviews. I am pushing myself to insert this in an authentic way, especially after reading "The Default in Our Stars: A Guest Post by Linda Sue Park".
One last note I want to make as this is quickly turning into a "Cynthia screams about her love for the zombie genre and gets carried away," is how I enjoyed the Janet O'Shea character, but how I also felt there was missing nuance there regarding womanhood as experienced by white women. June is a huge fan of Janet O'Shea, who plays Vivian in the 1960s fictional film, "Fight the Dead." For folks that have seen the film, "Night of the Living Dead," it's pretty obvious Vivian is Barbara's character. Lmao, like her name even rhymes with the actress IRL who plays Barbara. And June makes a lot of commentary on why Vivian is so amazing, and why the movie was so poignant to be made in times of social upheavel where "the heroes are a timid white girl and a strong Black man...in trying to survive the night, they have to confront each other, confront prejudice, fight to even have a say about what they should do in a life-or-death circumstance." She and Janet say Vivian is just a girl doing her best. On the surface, I LOVE that! And I love how it's the framing for this story where a regular girl trusts herself and does what it takes to stay alive.
But that isn't what really happens in "Night of the Living Dead," and I think it erases the racial dynamics that although unintentional, ruled the film. While the story starts out with Barbara, this fragile white woman, as the protagonist, Ben's arrival and his incessant labor throughout, fighting the ghouls, the prideful white man wanting to be boss, and white women's complacency cements him as the leader and protagonist and that is incredible for not only horror, but a movie in that time period. And we cannot pretend that women of color get to be as gentle or "regular" in the way June, Vivian, Barbara are. Look at Michonne, or Rosita in TWD. So Idk, I have more thoughts, but this is getting long as hell! I recommend also reading The Lingering Horror of 'Night of the Living Dead', which recounts the history of zombies in Black culture, as "undead slaves with roots in Haitian folklore and necromancy." I did not know this and it's something I want to read more about!
Anyways, bottom line: read this book! I guarantee any zombie lover or anyone who has been to a fan con will adore it.